Fire and Ice
by Beertree
Summary: Skyfire and Starscream arrive on Earth in the distant past.


The small blue and white planet rolled beneath them as they crossed over the terminator and completed their first orbit of the newly discovered world. It was young and geologically active, or so they surmised from the evidence of their first scan. The scan also revealed an abundance of organic life on all the major landmasses including the frozen southern polar region and in the large bodies of water.

"Nice place," the smaller spacecraft commented allowing a trace of sarcasm to color his words.

The much larger spacecraft chose to ignore the other's tone. "I agree. It's quite lively, isn't it? No indication of intelligent life, though."

"Humph. I'm more interested in the energy readings. Looks extremely promising, geothermal, hydro...Primus, look at that, coal, oil. A treasure trove of energy for the taking."

"Starscream," the other spacecraft admonished. "We are not here to plunder planets. This is a scientific mission, not one of conquest."

"How deluded are you, Skyfire?" Starscream inquired irritably. "Do you honestly believe we're out here doing scientific research? You've heard the same messages from Cybertron that I have. The thinly veiled inquiries? The insinuations?"

Skyfire remained silent. He really had nothing to say anymore. He and Starscream had gone around and around on this topic for millennia; ever since the tone of the communications with Cybertron had started to change.

He'd tried to dismiss it, ignore it and stick to the original mission parameters but Starscream had listened and, in the long periods of silence the two friends encountered during their mission, had thought about it and had come to some very uncomfortable conclusions.

Starscream now talked of war, not imminent but always a possibility as the messages steered more and more towards energy acquisition and away from pure scientific research. He interpreted this as to mean problems on Cybertron, problems that were leading inexorably towards a clash between those coveting the ever-diminishing energy supplies.

What surprised and disturbed Skyfire even more were Starscream's apparent acceptance of this and even his intrigue at the notion of war. Skyfire refused to acknowledge Starscream's interpretation of the messages. Not because he thought they were wrong but because the whole notion unsettled him. It wasn't logical. Who would fight against whom? Cybertronian against Cybertronian? What was the sense in that?

Starscream saw sense in that, though—Cybertronian against Cybertronian for what remained of the energon on an increasingly energon-starved planet. Deep in his laser-core, Skyfire saw it too. He just refused to admit it and face it.

Skyfire went back to studying his scan results while the night-enshrouded planet unrolled beneath them.

"Shall we go down for a closer look?" Starscream prompted him.

"Yes, yes, absolutely." he answered quickly; embarrassed that his silence had gone on so long Starscream had needed to nudge him. He quickly scanned Starscream, an action his friend would notice and understand, like a quick pat on the back. Skyfire felt the touch of Starscream's return scan. "Ready?"

"Need you ask?" Starscream retorted.

"The atmosphere is quite thick, you know. Think you can handle it?" Skyfire inquired, teasing his companion.

Starscream seemed to sniff in annoyance. "Just go," he replied. "You're the one who needs to worry about the atmosphere."

Starscream was right as always. His larger, bulkier shape was ill suited to quick maneuvers and steep reentries. Skyfire felt the first drag of atmosphere on his frame and soon he would be feeling his skin warm as the air thickened around him. Seemingly unconcerned, Starscream was ahead and below—his perfect pyramid already aglow—dropping at an angle so steep Skyfire grimaced. The young scientist would land first, of course. He always did. He'd be pacing with nervous energy and impatience by the time Skyfire arrived. Skyfire felt as if he were holding him back sometimes though Starscream never complained, at least about that.

Skyfire watched the smaller spacecraft brighten quickly until he was almost too bright to look at. While Starscream continued on his spectacular meteoric descent, Skyfire dropped several small communication satellites, which would keep them in contact when they invariably separated. Once he confirmed the satellites' functionality he followed his partner down.

The heat of his own reentry was just warming away the chill of space from his belly. He lifted his nose a bit and let the thickening air slow him even more. He preferred gliding in to falling like a meteor, the stress on his structure was less and he required less energy to recover. Plus there was no urgency to their mission. They had no need to rush into situations and put themselves at risk. Starscream, though, seemed to enjoy the risk, the energon-rush.

The air whistled over his wings now as he spread them into atmosphere-mode and the warmth had grown to an almost uncomfortable heat. He fired his braking jets. Now he was flying instead of falling. He cooled quickly while he scanned for Starscream's landing beacon.

"There," he said to himself and circled around the source of the signal before transforming to his robot mode and landing with a soft thud on the hard-packed soil.

He glanced around and wondered why Starscream had chosen to land on the night side. The darkness was almost complete except for the myriad of stars overhead. He turned on his infrared vision and immediately spotted his partner.

Starscream glowed unbearably bright, heat radiating from his structure drowning out everything around him and obscuring any other heat signatures in the area.

"Primus," Skyfire whispered and shuddered involuntarily. The Angel of Death—a myth gleaned from some primitive culture they'd encountered in their travels—stood before him in all its terrible fire. Stunned by his train of thoughts, he deactivated his optics and turned away from the image. Starscream was no death-bringer, merely a scientist, a gatherer of data. Nothing more.

Skyfire didn't believe in premonitions but the feeling of foreboding clung to him.

"Skyfire?"

Starscream was speaking and had been speaking for a while, the large jet realized. He shook himself again. His armor rattled loudly in the night. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"I WAS saying that we should mark this planet as a vital resource," he said. "But I'm wondering what the scrap is the matter with you."

"Nothing," Skyfire responded. "And I wouldn't like to see this planet exploited. Plus it's too far out. The energy needed to reach it would make it worthless in the long run."

Skyfire heard Starscream's feet thudding lightly on the ground as he took a few step away from his friend. "So you admit that energy is a problem on Cybertron, now?" Starscream asked.

"I never denied it. I just do not believe war is the ultimate result."

"You ARE denying the facts, then."

Skyfire reactivated his optics, still set to night vision. Starscream no longer glowed too brightly, no longer a vision of death just a normal heat signature indicating a living Cybertronian. Around him, thousands of life forms glowed dimly making the planet's surface as star studded as the sky. He deactivated his night vision. The myriad points of light vanished leaving only Starscream's red optics staring at him out of the darkness.

"My interpretation of the information we have does not point me in that direction."

Skyfire heard Starscream's arms clang against his sides when he raised and dropped them in frustration. He turned, red optics disappearing, and walked away. "How can you be so naive?" he growled.

Skyfire blinked. _Am I being naive?_ he asked himself. _Am I refusing to see what Starscream sees? Am I deluding myself?_

"Starscream, I..." he started to answer the accusation.

The smaller jet interrupted him. "We have to go back to Cybertron."

Skyfire blinked again confused by the change of topic. "We can't. The mission isn't completed."

"You don't even know what the mission is anymore, Skyfire. We gather data on life forms, both intelligent and none. Cybertron smiles politely, pats our heads like good mechs and asks about energy resources.

"You're right about one thing. What good is finding energy resources so far from Cybertron they'll never be able to use them? We're wasting energy, Skyfire. Cybertron isn't interested in pure research anymore, and I don't believe they're interested in us anymore. We...I can do much more for Cybertron back on Cybertron. Not out here."

"No," Skyfire answered slowly. "I can't turn my back on the mission. You go back, I'll keep going."

Starscream didn't answer for a long time. The night sounds surrounded them.

"I...I can't leave you alone," Starscream finally said softly, apparently unhappy with that conclusion. "But I just can't go on," he finished bitterly.

Skyfire heard Starscream run a few steps and then transform. He fired his thrusters, illuminating his pyramid form soaring away into the sky.

Skyfire radioed him, "Wait, Starscream." But he received no reply.

Then even the glow of his thrusters was gone. Starscream had vanished, who knew where, on a strange planet.

Skyfire stood motionless in the dark, staring after his friend, for a long time.

The rising of the unspectacular yellow star that was this planet's sun revealed a vast, flat plain of grass waving gently in the morning breeze and a strange mechanical being sitting alone and motionless amidst the grass. The low sun made the white being glow a gentle orange, but he was unaware of that. He ignored it all, lost in his thoughts.

Skyfire had been thinking for hours but had been unable to come to any decisions, but he was beginning to understand Starscream's dilemma. They were both trapped by their loyalty to each other, but Skyfire wanted to go on and Starscream wanted to go home. Neither could act on their desires without leaving the other behind. It was hopeless unless one of them gave in to the other.

Skyfire rested his head in his hands, elbows on his knees and listened to the rustle of the grass in the wind. Other things rustled in the grass as well, organic things, small and large life forms living on the plant life and each other going about their lives ignoring the enormous being in their midst just as he ignored them. When the ground began to vibrate beneath him, he turned his sensors up wondering if this was a tectonically unstable area. He recorded his findings but found no interest in them.

On the horizon a cloud of dust rose, the vibrations increased and suddenly he was surrounded by an enormous herd of large, four-legged life forms. The herd rumbled by splitting apart as it reached him and rejoining as it passed him without hesitating and without touching him. He could hear them bellowing and calling to each other and panting and snorting. The smell was overpowering. Dust rose in clouds and settled on his white form, turning him tan. Then, just as suddenly as they appeared, they were gone. The trampled grass around him sprang back up and, except for the coating of dust on his armor; it was as if they'd never been there.

He, of course, recorded it all, right down to the presence of several predators; but he merely filed it away without examining it or drawing any conclusions.

The sun rose higher and the air around him grew very still and warm. Huge black clouds grew to enormous heights flattening on the tops as they reach their upper limits. Flashes of light chased themselves through the clouds and the air was filled with deep rumblings. Finally the rain came drowning him in a torrential downpour and leaving him streaked with dirt that the water hadn't been able to wash away. The cooling wash of water seemed to arouse him then.

He pushed himself to his feet, water cascading off of him, and checked his internal chronometer. Dismayed at the amount of time he'd let get away and no closer to a solution, he sent out another call to Starscream only to be disappointed again. The Seeker had turned off his radio and his locator beacon, and he was out of range of Skyfire's scanners. He could be anywhere.

_Well,_ he thought, _I'm not doing much good just sitting here. There's work to do._ He sprang into the air, twisting and folding into his jet mode, fired his thrusters and climbed rapidly into the sky.

The land swept away beneath him. It was dull and boring, vast expanses of grasslands broken up by the remnants of giant floods and earthquakes. Skyfire set his scanners and recorders on automatic and let his mind ponder exclusively the problem of Starscream. He'd been pondering the problem nonstop since the young scientist had taken off on his own and was no closer to a solution now than he'd been when Starscream had disappeared into the night. Skyfire was willing to let Starscream go but Starscream was nothing if not dedicated. He'd never abandon his assignment as long as Skyfire stayed with it.

He'd never abandon me, the huge jet realized. Starscream needed to return to Cybertron, but as long as Skyfire refused to cut their mission short, Starscream would stay and possibly grow more and more bitter as Cybertron grew farther and farther away both in distance and in ideology.

He turned the problem over and over in his mind, the dilemma leaving him more frustrated by the moment. Adding to Skyfire's frustration was Starscream's radio silence as his hails went unanswered. He'd left several messages via the communications satellites and could always get in touch immediately with an emergency call so the lack of response from Starscream shouldn't have bothered him. Starscream could get so involved in his research that he sometimes didn't respond for hours, but he'd never left in anger before.

_Anger,_ Skyfire thought. Starscream felt much more passionate about Cybertron than Skyfire did about the mission. _ Returning to Cybertron means much more to him than continuing the mission means to me,_ he realized. _I'm continuing the mission out of a sense of duty now and I think he realizes that. I'm still finding some pleasure in the discoveries but not like at the beginning. I can easily give it up for him._

He radioed Starscream again not expecting an answer. He was not disappointed and left another message: Let's go home.

The land abruptly ended. Now a huge ocean of water stretched out before him. Without conscious thought, he turned to follow the shoreline toward the northern polar region in a preprogrammed routine that he didn't bother to adjust. His scanners continued to collect and file data occasionally flagging interesting or unusual findings.

One such finding prompted a red flag. The weather conditions were changing. Skyfire was quickly passing from the warm, temperate conditions that seemed to dominate the planet into less stable and colder climes. Preoccupied with his own thoughts, Skyfire missed or chose to ignore the flag and continued on his predetermined heading. So when the sudden strong gust of wind shook his frame and sent him reeling off-course, he was caught totally by surprise.

Fighting the increasing wind, he struggled to straighten out his course only to be blinded when he flew into a snow squall.

The thick, heavy snow swirled around him and splattered against his optical sensors leaving him completely disoriented. He switched to radar and infrared. Below him, and too close for his comfort, the relatively warm water glowed dimly, rising and falling in wind-whipped waves. Radar indicated land rising out of the ocean off in the distance.

Pointing his nose upward he tried to climb above the storm hoping for clear air but the wind followed him and the air became even colder. The spattering snowflakes no longer ran from his skin but clung thickly as his external temperature dropped. He quickly gave up the idea of flying out of the storm and turned toward the land. The surging ocean below was even closer now, wind-blown spray sometimes reaching him and freezing instantly against his body gradually coating him in a briny layer of ice.

The wind pushed him towards land but the weight of the ice pulled him down even closer to the water. He had to get rid of the ice, he realized or he'd never make it to land. He started shutting down unnecessary systems and rerouted their energy to his outer surface, warming his skin. The thick snow started to slough off but the ice clung tenaciously. He felt himself rise several hundred feet but the air higher up was even colder and the snow that struck him and melted refroze coating him in an icy glaze.

A wave of water across his cockpit startled him. He'd lost altitude again and hadn't realized it. Another flashing red light told him the reason; keeping himself warm enough to melt the ice was draining his energy reserves. He'd not lost consciousness but had momentarily faded out as power was rerouted automatically to keep him moving.

Calmly, he analyzed his options. He hadn't called Starscream for help earlier, confident in his ability to make it to land. Now, that seemed unlikely. He wasn't even sure he had enough energy to send the emergency message. He quickly composed and sent the simple text message: Help. And attached his coordinates. Even with all his remaining power behind it, he didn't think the message would be received but it was all he could do.

He also realized that keeping himself warm was doing nothing but drain him more quickly. He stopped his warming efforts and immediately felt his head clear. One last idea occurred to him and maybe it would be enough to get him to the shore. He knew he was going to crash; it was inevitable but better to crash on land then to hit the water and sink.

With almost the last bit of energy left him, he transformed. Ice cracked and shattered as his body took on the new shape. He fired his thrusters. They burned brightly but too briefly. The shoreline loomed out of the swirling snow and wind, closer yet still out of reach.

_Not enough,_ he realized. _I'm sorry, Starscream, I may have made the decision for you,_ he thought sadly.

He crashed, not into the ocean, but into a thick layer of ice that had formed in the shallower water near the coastline. The ice broke apart and swallowed Skyfire's body hiding all evidence that anything at all had passed that way.

Falling water pounded the rocks next to Starscream's feet and a fine mist obscured his vision. Standing at the foot of the immense waterfall he'd discovered, he gazed up into the rainbows. He didn't really see them, though. He was contemplating Skyfire's last message.

He'd taken off into the night in a fit of anger and frustration leaving his friend behind and had refused to answer any of his calls. He'd flown for hours fuming over Skyfire's naiveté and stubbornness. _Why couldn't he see things the way I see them?_ he'd wondered.

He'd passed into daylight and found himself flying over a thick forest, the air extremely warm and humid. The mist rising from the distant waterfall had looked like fire in the forest and had drawn him to investigate. Hours later he still stood there letting the pounding of the water deafen his senses.

Now, this last message gave him hope. "Let's go home." Did he really mean it? He didn't know. No follow-up message had come. When he'd retrieved it, it was already hours old.

He was preparing to open communications with his partner when the emergency beacon beeped frantically for attention. The text message flickered across his vision and faded out. One word, "help", came through clearly but the rest of the message faded as the signal had lost strength. Knowing Skyfire as he did, cool, calm and collected in the face of anything, the rest of the message had to be his coordinates. Holding panic down and with no idea which way to go, Starscream leaped into the air, swiftly transforming, and started tracing the signal back to the satellite that had sent it down to him. He followed the signal's path back to the satellite that had first received the message and knew, at the very least, Skyfire's general location on the planet.

_So far away,_ he lamented. Even at top speed it would take him hours to reach the area and even then he didn't know exactly where his partner was exactly.

When he reached the area of Skyfire's emergency message, his worst fears were realized. The entire northern polar region stretched out before him. A wild ocean beat against ice, which ground against empty, snow-covered land.

Starscream searched for days, looking for any trace of his friend in the snow. Everything was wind-blown and smooth. Ice buckled and refroze along the shore. The sun, sitting on the horizon, cast strange and confusing shadows. Even his scanners found no trace of the giant jet. No signs of energy or unusual metallic readings. Nothing. Skyfire had vanished without a trace.

Finally, exhausted, Starscream stopped searching. He stood on the snow-covered shore and gazed despondently out over the ocean that had most certainly swallowed up his friend.

_You told me to go back without you,_ he thought, _knowing that I wouldn't, couldn't go. But then you said, "let's go home."_ _Both of us, together. Is that what you really wanted? What changed your mind? Or did you sacrifice yourself for me knowing that you couldn't go back?_ He shook his head. _ I guess I'll never know. But I will go back. Because I can't go on._

The next few days he spent recharging and preparing for the long trip back alone. Finally, with one last fly-over of the forbidding polar sea, he climbed swiftly out of the planet's atmosphere. He destroyed the tiny communications satellites, the last bit of evidence of their visit.

_Except for Skyfire, _he sighed. He laughed softly to himself. _Quite a tomb, don't you think? I hope mine is as grand and as deserved._

_¯_


End file.
